In recent years, wells have been made as intelligent wells in which a lot of equipment has been installed when completing the well to be able to adjust the well over time from surface through control lines and electronic communication. This has been done in order to enhance the oil or gas production. However, experience has shown that making a perfect well operable from surface is impossible and that further development of these wells is necessary. However, since these well are highly equipped with lines and electronics, it is very risky and sometimes even impossible to intervene with a tool afterwards to adjust and develop the well.
Furthermore, such intelligent wells can, due to their level of equipment, only be made with up to eight production zones and only as vertical wells. Therefore, the manifold or base structure from which the well runs has to be very large in order to be able reach out in the reservoir to a satisfactory extent.
In the more conventional way, the laterals are drilled through the production casing in order to reach further out into the reservoir and thus optimise the oil or gas production. However, when making cased laterals, the main production casing needs to have an enlarged inner diameter in order for the lateral casing to enter there through, which increases the costs of making such a completion substantially.